Chronicle geoquiz

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, December 19, 2010

1. There are approximately 195 nations in the world. The exact count depends on how you define "nation," but geographers generally count the 192 members of the United Nations plus Taiwan, Kosovo and Vatican City.

2. False, but not by much. Thomas L. Friedman made this assertion in 1999 to suggest that globalized nations have too much to lose by going to war with each other. It may have been true when he wrote it, depending on your parsing skills, but Russia and Georgia each had McDonald's restaurants in 2008 when they briefly fought over South Ossetia. If you consider the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama a "war," that's another example, as is the 1999 bombing of Serbia by NATO, all of whose members have McDonald's franchises.

3. Indonesia.

4. Spain. There is some dispute about this, but we're going with John A. Crow, author of "Spain, the Root and the Flower" (University of California Press, 1985). His version: Around 300 B.C., Carthaginians named the country Ispania, meaning land of the rabbits. The Romans changed it slightly to Hispania, which evolved into the present España, which we call "Spain."

5. Rome.

6. Vatican City. The Swiss Guard evolved from Swiss mercenaries who once served as palace guards in European courts.

7. The Canary Islands are named for the dog. Its original Latin name was Insula Canaria - "Island of the Dogs." According to some sources, the islands' original inhabitants worshiped dogs.

8. Paris.

9. Tabasco Sauce is made on Avery Island in Louisiana. Its primary ingredient is Tabasco peppers.

10. The original Harry's New York Bar is in Paris. It has opened several satellites, but none in New York.

11. London. It commemorates the defeat of Napoleon by British and Prussian forces in 1815.

12. The pampas are the fertile plains that cover a good swath of Argentina and a bit of Uruguay.

13. Lake Titicaca, which straddles the border between Peru and Bolivia.

14. Antarctica.

15. The Galapagos Islands.

16. K2, the world's second-highest mountain. The peak is not visible from any inhabited place, and geographers have never been able to find a reliable indigenous name.

17. Its official name is Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Voters recently defeated a ballot measure to shorten it to just "Rhode Island."

18. The Gulf of California and the Sea of Cortez (also spelled Cortes).

19. Belarus.

20. Ecuador. They were popular with travelers crossing the Isthmus of Panama, and, later, with workers on the Panama Canal.

21. Guatemala City, Panama City and Kuwait City. Vatican City leaves room for quibbling, because the entire country's name is Vatican City. To fully qualify, we guess the capital would have to be Vatican City City.

24. Manhattan is about 22 square miles, Dallas/Fort Worth is about 30 square miles and Disney World is about 47 square miles.

25. Australia.

26. Gauche in English has come to mean "lacking in sophistication or social grace," but in French it literally means left. So you'd be on the Left Bank, or southern side, of the Seine. The opposite side - the Right Bank - is Rive Droit.

44. The Most Serene Republic of San Marino is a 24-square-mile enclave within Italy with a population of 30,000. It's an independent, sovereign nation that began as a monastic community founded by a stonecutter named Marinus of Arbe in the year 301. If there is also a Least Serene Republic of San Marino, we're unaware of it.

45. Niger.

46. Africa.

47. The Karakoram Range, which has the greatest concentration of 8,000-meter mountains in the world. Geographers consider it part of the "Greater Himalaya," although it's northwest of the Himalaya proper.

48. Russia. They share a short stretch of border along the Sea of Japan, in the extreme northeast corner of North Korea.

49. Wellington is at the south end of the North Island.

50. Labrador is on the mainland and Newfoundland is an island.

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